Administrative and Maintenance Tools - vbStopForumSpam - known spammer lookup for new registrations

vbStopForumSpam

This provides access to a RBL type system for forum admins, listing known spam IP / email / usernames. The RBL database is provided by www.stopforumspam.com. You do NOT need an API key from the website in order to access the database. only to submit data if you should wish to do so.

At the point of user registration, the mod checks if the IP number / provided username / email addresses appear on a block list and can block the registration.

Whilst this isnt the most perfect way to stop all forum spam, its another step that spammers have to overcome.

VB4 here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...hreadid=230921
Its the same code, it works in 3.54 to 4.0


What it does

It checks with a remote database of known forum spammers. Their IP number, email address and forum username are tested and based on your configuration, you can reject / log / accept user registrations based on what you get back.

This version doesnt have
- whitelisting or the ability to submit users to the database but it will within the next week.
- automatic user deletion / post / PM purging. There are good tools out there already, this does something else.

Instructions are included in the installation.txt file - PLEASE read it first and dont forget to actually upload the files in the upload folder, otherwise it WILL kill your registration progress and you wont see the log file options in admincp. You do not need to download the product-vbstopforumspam-3.54.xml file unless you are using a vBulletin version older than 3.6.0

Changes to vB
- 3 new database tables
- 2 database table alternations
- No new templates.
- 2 Hook (register_addmember_process & register_addmember_complete)

Ive tested it but had feedback that it works with versions as old as 3.6.2... Support should go back to older versions, as long as they have hook support for register_addmember_process / register_addmember_complete

Known to work - tested by me
- vBulletin 3.6.8 on Apache 2.2 / PHP 5.1.2 on Linux using cUrl
- vBulletin 3.7 Gold on Apache 2.0 / PHP 4.4.3 on Windows without cUrl (template changes wont work on 3.7 - thats in the next version with auto template changes)

For code to submit spammers to the database, check this post for code changes
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=288

Reported in the thread to work
- 3.6.1, 3.6.2, 3.6.9, 3.6.10, 3.7.0, 3.7.1, 3.7.2, 3.7.3, 3.74, 3.80, 3.81, 3.82, 3.83, 3.8.4, 4.0beta3

If you have 3.54, then you can use the product-vbstopforumspam-3.54.xml file attached instead of the one in the ZIP file, which will allow older vBulletin versions to access this mods' features. I personally havent tested this version, its a user contribution, thanks to Darrell Mobley, that changes the way the XML works when imported into older versions.

Installers should remember to refresh their ACP navigation window when they first install it so they can see the new log file menu item.

REQUIRES MySQL 4.1.1+

Future versions
- Automatic integration into vBulletin to add users to the stopForumSpam.com database from a form
- Whitelisting of username / IP / email addresses
- AJAX integration to allow for lookups from within the users profile
- Decreased remote query count from three per user to one per user.

Versions / Changes

0.1 Initial Release

0.2 pedigrees special brew birthday release.
- Small security update. If you have 0.1 installed, download 0.2 and replace your existing functions_vbsfs.php with the one in the archive. It just tests to see if its running inside the VB framework before anything else. This is what happens when you code at 2am after drinking wine

0.3
- stopped it processing valid registrations twice
- moved all non-function code into the plugin. Not a big one as 0.2 basically did that
- fixed a typo in the log pruner that stopped it working (404)
- removed unused fields from the database for people with mysql that doesnt support varchar > 255 (ie mySQL4). If you have 0.2 installed and dont need to prune your logs just yet, you dont really need to install this version but can instead wait for 1.0 unless of a massive security update.

0.4
- logs registrations that arent/wouldnt be blocked
- fixed XML errors when username has a space it in
- tightened up the cache so that it doesnt test a username against an email name to give a bypass result (for when a username is an email address that isnt banned where the email address is)
- fixed some basic logic errors in the PHP

0.6
- Should work on PHP 4.4 now - rewrote the XML with PHP4 in mind (tested on Apache2.0/PHP 4.4.3)
- Fixed a caching system where data wasnt being updated correctly which could cause a remote query when one wasnt needed
- Possible false negative situation when a spammer was blocked due to SFS.com being down who then visited again when it was up but within the cache expiry time
- Remote query failure when the result page isnt XML should work a bit better now. It does a very basic test for valid XML results.
- Fixed log purging (again) and it should actually work properly now.
- No longer requires PHP5
- The log viewer now links to a user profile when registration is allowed.

v0.61 - Removed a template change that was invalid vBulletin code. The package you download will still say its 0.60 however

NB : When upgrading from any version to 0.6, you must remove and then add the plugin due to changes in one of the database tables

You need to have an API key from www.stopforumspam.com in order to submit data, its free and easy to get... You DONT need an API key in order to use this mod however, only to submit spammer data.

Issues are
- The usergroup permissions / view details etc DONT work. I jumped the gun and put the permissions controls in there before I put the code in. Please delete the includes/xml/bitfield_vbstopforumspam.xml file and rebuild your postbit

Installation
- Follow the instructions in the zip file, that includes upload the correct folders
- ONLY download the 3.54 xml file if youre using a vbulletin version prior to 3.6.0. use this file to install the mod instead of the xml file in the zip file.

Please click Installed

[skippybosco]

@TMH63: Have you verified that their IP/Email/Username are in fact part of the SFS database?

As I've seen the "I have to disable this mod" statement a few times in the last few weeks, it is probably worth reiterating that you do not have to block users that are caught by SFS. Instead have those users put into a more restrictive usergroup which either has their posts validated via Akismet or has it's posts manually validated by your site moderators. You can then set an automatic promotion strategy (based on time, # posts, etc) to move them to a less restrictive usergroup.

This gives you the best of both worlds... even in the rare case there is a false positive, your users can still register and post, while at the same time having peace of mind that content is being vetted before it is being presented to your users.

[TommyC]

Originally Posted by TMH63

Just in the past few days I've had people contact me that are trying to register and they are not spammers.

I'm going to have to disable this and find something out it seems.

I've been experiencing the same problem the past few days as well. When looking at the vbStopForumSpam logs, it will frequently show an "Allowed registration" message yet the user account is non-existent. Sometimes the users contact me and complains, or sometimes the users try and try again, and I'll see the same "allowed registration" message multiple times (with different timestamps) until eventually the account is actually created.

The dead giveaway that there is a problem finalizing registrations is with the spam bots and their method of changing their email address and/or IP address. When I look at the log I'll see the same spam username getting the "allowed registration" message numerous times, all with different timestamps, different email addresses, and different IP addresses. So this would confirm that the user is attempting to register, being allowed to register, but then something goes wrong.

On a plus side, the mod is still working in the sense that I still see users being rejected based off of the stopforumspam queries.

EDIT: Question. If a user fills out the registration form, and enters the captcha wrong, doesn't enter a password, or makes some other error on the registration page, does this script still query stopforumspam? If so, my original assumption that this script is malfunctioning may be wrong, it's very likely then that some of my users are failing to fill out the registration form correctly which would explain the numerous "allowed registration" messages as they try to fill out the form.

[djbaxter]

Suggestion:

At present, it seems the name search is not on exact match - at least, if I enter a name as a manual search it's not (e.g., dan will be flagged as matches to daniel, dan123, rodan, etc.).

It should either be eliminated as a potential criterion or made so that only exact matches will work to ban a registration, as it is for email addresses and IP addresses.

[TommyC]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

Suggestion:

At present, it seems the name search is not on exact match - at least, if I enter a name as a manual search it's not (e.g., dan will be flagged as matches to daniel, dan123, rodan, etc.).

It should either be eliminated as a potential criterion or made so that only exact matches will work to ban a registration, as it is for email addresses and IP addresses.

This script doesn't use a "search" it checks for a yes or no.

For example, dan would show up as a yes via this page:
http://www.stopforumspam.com/api?username=dan

[Pro-eSports.com]

Does this mod work for vB4?

[skippybosco]

yes.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by TommyC

This script doesn't use a "search" it checks for a yes or no.

For example, dan would show up as a yes via this page:
http://www.stopforumspam.com/api?username=dan

You misunderstand me.

The point is how "dan" is checked - and against what. Would you get a "yes" if the member was dan because it matched with daniel, dan2010,123dan, etc.?

Try a manual search: http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=dan

My hypothetical member "dan" isn't any of those 500 listed but seems to be considered a match. It should not return a "yes" unless it finds a "dan" in the spam list, not a "jordan" or anything else.

[Pro-eSports.com]

There are 2 downloads available in the mod post.

1 XML file and the Zip folder

The Zip folder includes an XML file too but with another name. Which XML is the newest version?

[TommyC]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

You misunderstand me.

The point is how "dan" is checked - and against what. Would you get a "yes" if the member was dan because it matched with daniel, dan2010,123dan, etc.?

Try a manual search: http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=dan

My hypothetical member "dan" isn't any of those 500 listed but seems to be considered a match. It should not return a "yes" unless it finds a "dan" in the spam list, not a "jordan" or anything else.

That's because the search is likely setup to search through the database. The API is likely setup for a precision response.

Example:
http://www.stopforumspam.com/api?username=jor <--- shows as NOT a spammer
http://www.stopforumspam.com/api?username=jordan <--- shows as a spammer

[websissy]

Tommyc, is there any possibility your site is running both this tool and either the ISBOT or the Stop the Registration Bots tools?

When I first installed vBSFS and ISBOT, I was seeing the same symptoms you describe on my site. The vBSFS log showed "registration allowed" but the user never showed up as a completed registration. After carefully checking a few of those users, I realized most of the ones that made it past vBSFS were being blocked by ISBOT because the user registered too fast. I was able to prove this because ISBOT always sent me a "Bot Registration was blocked" explanatory email when it blocked a registration and in each case where a "registration allowed" message was in the vBSFS log but the user never appeared in the vb_user table, I got an email from ISBOT explaining why the user was blocked. Furthermore when I looked at those "registration allowed" users based on the info vBSFS had recorded (username, email and IP address), there was always something about the user that would have caused me to block or remove them manually anyway.

For example, the same username, had been used in previous registrations that were blocked by vBSFS because either the email or IP was already in the vBSFS database even though the username was NOT. However, THIS TIME the bot managed to pick a combo of username, email and IP vBSFS didn't yet have on file and had thus managed to sneak past the vBSFS database tests. Yet after maneuvering past vBSFS the registration was blocked by ISBOT for the reason I mentioned earlier.

After a few days of that, I uninstalled ISBOT and installed "Stop The Registration Bots" instead. I did so because that tool has even more tricks in its bot-blocking reportoire (like hidden/required form fields with names that can easily be changed) that are designed to improve the tool's ability to thwart registration bots.

One thing I did notice, after changing from ISBOT to "Stop The Registration Bots" was I stopped getting the "Bot Registration was blocked" emails that were always sent by ISBOT. I haven't figured out why those emails are not being sent by "Stop The Registration Bots". It may be a bug in the addon that causes this, or the email may be getting blocked by my spam filters or maybe there's an email address issue. All I know is I'm not getting those emails the way I did with ISBOT. Yet, in every case where I've seen a "registration allowed" message in the vBSFS log but the user never appeared in the vb_user table; if I examine the vBSFS log's info carefully, I find either the username, email address (gawab.com or mail.ru, etc.) or IP address tells me the registrant is a bot I'd have manually deleted anyway. In short, though I didn't get the expected email I'm convinced "Stop The Registration Bots" based on the rules it uses.

If my hunch is right, the same thing may be happening to you. When vBSFS fails to detect the registrant as a bot and lets it pass, "Stop The Registration Bots" blocks it based on its design criteria.

That would explain why so many are seeing "Registration allowed" entries in the vBSFS log but can't find the users in vb_users.

Are you running "VBStopForumSpam" and "Stop The Registration Bots" too?

Thanks.